SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, May 4, 2012) – In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), it is "D-day," stated a Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. (CHC) physician describing today’s letter to the editor stating that either a deal is made with International Consulting Services (ICS), or they walk.

"We are pleading with the government of CNMI to allow us to continue to provide care to the community of CNMI. The consequences of rejecting this contract between CHC and ICS are imminent and catastrophic," stated the letter representing 89-percent of all CHC doctors.

All of the doctors whom Variety spoke with asked for anonymity, and expressed their support for the letter and thus the ICS contract.

"This is it. We’re out of time and ICS can help us turn the corner…we want the deal signed," stated a frustrated and tired doctor after an emergency meeting held among themselves at...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, May 3, 2012) – An angry Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah said yesterday that a new agreement and timber license are in operation at the Sogeram project area in Madang in Papua New Guinea.

He said a timber license previously given to Timbers PNG Ltd. was no longer valid as its logging and marketing agreement (LMA) with Sogeram Development Corporation had been terminated.

The license "hanged on" the LMA, he told a press conference yesterday.

It also did not matter if Timbers PNG, a subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group, had been granted leave to seek a judicial review, he said.

Namah, who is also Forestry Minister, was responding to Rimbunan Hijau’s (RH) denial yesterday that it was operating illegally in Sogeram.

When contacted, RH said it was more accurate to say that both the timber license and LMA "hang on" the timber permit held by...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, May 3, 2012) – Financial education has emerged as an urgent need for women during recent consultations on how to economically empower women on Nauru.

The two-day national consultations are part of a Smaller Island States project managed by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat to improve gender equality.

The director of the University of the South Pacific Centre on Nauru says work opportunities for women are limited and mostly involves selling produce or drinks.

Alamanda Lauti says most Nauruan women don’t know how to use a computer.

"The key strategy is training. So we’ve said that to conduct ongoing financial literacy training for women in business. And this would be based on donor funding."

Alamanda Lauti says the fact that there are no banks or insurance companies on Nauru is a big challenge for women wanting to go into...

HAGÃ TÃA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, May 4, 2012) – As the military takes another look at where to build a Marine base on Guam, locations that were previously dismissed as too small could be reconsidered -- including Naval Base Guam, Andersen South and even Radio Barrigada.

The military had previously considered six areas for the site of Marine family housing, according to military documents. Most of those areas were dismissed because they did not have enough available land, and the Finegayan area in Dededo was eventually selected.

However, the number of Marines and family members expected to move to Guam recently has shrunk to only a third of the original estimates, so the military announced on Wednesday it will rethink the placement of the Marine base.

The previously dismissed areas now may get a second look. They are Andersen Air Force Base, Navy Base, military...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, May 3, 2012) – The Cook Islands Opposition leader has accused the government of giving infrastructure company T&M Heather - infrastructure minister Teariki Heather’s family business - unfair priority over other contractors.

Wilkie Rasmussen says T&M’s rivals have filed complaints with his office, claiming contracts are being awarded to T&M without being publicly advertised first.

He says this goes against the rules of transparency and accountability when public funds are involved.

Mr. Rasmussen says this indicates the prime minister is not in a strong enough position to restrain or manage the activities of his ministers.

And he says the portfolio of infrastructure and planning should not have gone to someone involved in a company engaged in infrastructure work.

KOROR, Palau (Island Times, May 3, 2012) – President of Palau Johnson Toribiong Wednesday delivered his last State of the Republic Address in his first term of presidency, announcing significant progress has been made on almost all of the challenges his administration faced since the beginning.

As the president would repeatedly say from the beginning of his term, he inherited debts and problems from the previous regime.

Toribiong said the economy was indeed precarious when he took office. On his second year as president, although there were still rough times as the country still faced declining revenues and continuing problems with power situation, he said that the course of the nation had been steadied with the United States Government agreeing to review the Compact and the Trust Fund had stabilized. And on his...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, May 4, 2012) – More than a hundred extra Solomon Islands police will be on duty on Friday and Saturday nights in a bid to reduce anti-social behavior in and around Honiara.

The additional police patrol officers is part of operation ‘Zero Tolerance’ which was launched and commenced last week with satisfactory results.

Police are looking forward to be out in force again this weekend and are anticipating to increase the number of offenders being arrested, vehicles checked and conduct more searches for illegal liquor outlets.

The Police will concentrate their operations in areas identified as having problems with anti-social behavior and petty crimes.

Police will also be concentrating on traffic and bad driving habits as a Road Safety component of the operation.

HAGÃ TÃA, Guam (Marianas Variety Guam, May 4, 2012) – With a host of uncertainties continuing to lurk in the background of the revised Asia-Pacific troop realignment plan, Guam can’t be too optimistic about the prospects of military buildup, Bank of Guam chief economist Joseph Bradley said yesterday.

And while tourism is showing signs of strong recovery – with arrivals projected to increase from 1.1 million last year to 1.25 million this year – Bradley warned economic planners to be more cautious.

"The military buildup? Never mind," Bradley said, advising the business community not to count on the supposed promises of the military buildup when making business plans.

"I’m ignoring it right now because there is nothing there to hang my hat on," Bradley said, speaking at the Bank of Guam-sponsored economic update presentation at the Guam Hilton Resort and Spa.

Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i

Analysis

By Alex Perrottet

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Pacific Scoop, May 3, 2012) – Here in Fiji, press freedom is not taken for granted. From the time of the military coup in 2006 until only recently, there was strict censorship of the press, and other basic freedoms of association and speech were curbed.

Since the lifting of the Public Emergency Regulations (PER), which had included uniformed military in some newsrooms, press freedom is slowly being opened up again.

However, the Media Industry Development Decree is in place and it provides for tough fines and even jail sentences for journalists that step over the line.

Figuring out just where that line is will be the challenge for media in the following months and in the lead-up to the promised elections of September 2014. The Fiji government has commenced a...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.